I have a basket where I collect all my ideas for dots: newspaper clippings, pages torn out of a magazine, entertainment programs, and many scraps of paper that have scribbled thoughts on them. Over the weekend, I purged the majority of this collection, some dating back to 2013!
In some ways, it feels scandalous to toss a bin full of ideas. In another sense, it feels liberating. These were “orphan dots” — a one-off thought that never attained the completed trilogy of Idea + Lesson to Go With It + Picture — yet their volume obscured those that were viable.
Many times, I have said: “I need an idea,” even though there were hundreds of them at my fingertips. It reminded me of my closet and that age-old refrain of “I have nothing to wear,” even though there is a rack full of clothes. It also brought to mind the analogy of a banana (dot #2457) where the longer it sits, the less useful it is. Many of my notes no longer made sense, even though I once believed them to be dot-worthy.
As spring peeks around the corner, use the occasion to do a deep purge of one area where you have amassed bulk: your computer files, paper boxes lurking in your storeroom, old technology, a garage, your coat closet, or the pantry. Limited quality is more valuable than accumulated quantity.
